Americans\u2019 negative feelings about the economy are persisting in October, with consumer sentiment dropping one-tenth of an index point to 48.0 in the new University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers released Friday. The survey, which recorded its second-lowest reading in its 74-year history this month, noted that consumers are frustrated with high prices eroding their living standards.<\/p>\n
Less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm election, when voter concerns about affordability could shift the balance of power in Washington, the share of consumers who spontaneously mentioned high prices dragging down their personal finances increased for the fourth straight month to 56% in October compared with 45% in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese increases are seen across the political spectrum, with Republicans exhibiting the largest proportional rise,\u201d University of Michigan surveys director Joanne Hsu said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Over 40% of survey respondents mentioned gas prices without being prompted.<\/p>\n
The national average for a gallon of gasoline on Friday is $4.29, according to AAA \u2014 up from $3.07 a year ago.<\/p>\n
Hsu noted that consumers with no or very small stock holdings reported increased concerns about the effect of high prices on their personal finances, while those with large stock holdings did not report much of a change in their feelings about high prices burdening their lifestyles.<\/p>\n
The U.S. stock market has hit 27 all-time highs and gained about 12% so far this year, according to Yahoo Finance.<\/p>\n
\u201cPurchasing power continues to dominate consumer views of the economy,\u201d Hsu said. \u201cSentiment is now 10% below a year ago and 15% below February, just prior to the Iran conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the annual inflation rate for the 12-month period ending in September increased to 3.7%.<\/p>\n
The October survey found that expectations for inflation in the year ahead increased to 4.7% from 4.6% in September. Longer term, inflation expectations increased to 3.5% from 3.4%.<\/p>\n
About 85% of consumers think it is a bad time to buy a house because of recent interest rate increases. The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is now 7.32%, according to Freddie Mac. A year ago, the average rate was 6.19%.<\/p>\n
More consumers are also concerned about buying a car, with 24% citing high interest rates in October compared with 18% who said so last month. According to Edmunds, the average new car loan has a rate of 7%., while the average transaction price for a new vehicle is $49,639.<\/p>\n
The survey found that 69% of consumers expect interest rates to increase in the coming year \u2014 the highest level since April 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Americans\u2019 negative feelings about the economy are persisting in October, with consumer sentiment dropping one-tenth of an index…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[32134,32137,17452,114,85,46,43,32189,238,32187,38],"class_list":["post-655041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-all-markets-rank-everywhere","tag-app-for-your-consideration","tag-app-top-stories","tag-business","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-nnt","tag-politics","tag-susan-carpenter","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}